TEST OF ROLAND V-ACCORDION FR-8XB

[♔Chello]

TEST OF ROLAND V-ACCORDION FR-8XB

   


PREFACE
It's been a few years since I had this (from 2017 to 2020), but I have a good memory and am recounting my experiences, as this is an expensive instrument that users should be warned against buying, because it does not meet expected performance.

As a long-time accordion player, I have a broad background for this type of assessment, not least because I have played many of the best models on the market.

Therefore, I am also extremely critical to accordions, also because an accordion is far more complex in its construction than an arranger/synth.


APPEARANCE AND PRODUCTION QUALITY
From a distance everything looks great, but when you study the details, shocking things are revealed:
The color of the chassis is red - according to Roland Ferrari red, but this is not true.
The chassis parts are made of fiberglass and sanded by hand, and then painted by hand.
The work is shockingly poorly done, as the surface is full of irregularities and the paint is uneven in gloss.

The front cover can be changed to different designs, but when this is removed, poor adaptation to the chassis is revealed, and it is very difficult to put it back on.

The bellow are very badly glued and assembled with imprecise adaptation.

The screen is small - okay enough - but almost impossible to decipher and even worse to maneuver.

The rotary potentiometers work well, but the buttons for various functions are idiotically placed and very hard to press.

The buttons for changing registers are probably the worst I've seen on an accordion - they are unusually hard to press, and they have to be pressed all the way down to get a clean register, making it impossible to play fast melodies that require quick register changes.


THE KEYBEDS
One of the most important things is how well the keys work in the treble and bass, and here this model gets absolutely bottom marks:
The treble section's buttons are placed at an unusual angle, which means that all learned runs must be relearned, and you actually have to twist your wrist a little to hit anything like before, which means that your wrists and fingers are overexerted, even if you are used to playing for several hours every day..!
The buttons are also "damped" with hard rubber, while the normal ones are soft felt.
This causes significant clattering that is experienced as very annoying.
The keybed quality in the treble section is as bad as on a cheap Weltmeister.

The bass section is somewhat better, but this also has an unusual angle that means that you constantly miss runs that are very well practiced.
The buttons work as normal, as do the bass registers.


LAYOUT
Manoeuvring the screen's functions is a nightmare - you have to use rotary potentiometers that are poorly calibrated, with the result that you never hit what you want.
Various buttons have dual functions, which is also a nightmare.
The manual is of no help and must be considered completely useless.


SOUND QUALITY
The sound of the accordion model (there are many) is immediately perceived as unusually good and authentic with all details recorded with near-field technique.
The problem is that Roland has sampled from the cheapest and worst brands on the market such as Guerrini, Borsini, Hohner, Weltmeister, etc.

Why in heaven's name have they not sampled from better brands such as Excelsior, Scandalli and Zero Zette?
I have no interest in playing the worst accordions on the market, and had really expected samples from the best on the market.

Now there are also samples from instruments other than accordions such as bass, guitar, piano, harmonica etc., but these have a terribly poor sound quality; worse than ever heard before.


CONCLUSION:
This top model is quite expensive - it cost about 5000 € in 2017.
I have also had the FR-3b, which cost about half as much, but is at least as good (bad..?).
The latest top model is even more expensive - about 8000 €.

I would strongly advise against anyone buying the most expensive model - buy the cheapest one instead, and sell it if (when) you don't like it..!



PROS:
None

CONS:
As many as you never wanted

NOT RECOMMENDED !!!